La Musica de Baldemar Huerta

by Richie UnterbergerLa Musica de Baldemar Huerta is comprised mostly of Mexican and South American songs that Fender heard while growing up in Texas, sung in Spanish, though there are English-language remakes of his hits "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and "Secret Love." While this is too unassuming to count as a major career milepost, it's refreshingly basic in production and sincere in execution. The arrangements are low-key and acoustic-oriented, and though some sweeping strings are employed, they're pretty graceful and tasteful. It's optimum background music for romantic candlelit dinners in the Southwest; in the better sense of that description, it's romantic, but not unduly schmaltzy.